at what age did your dog start therapy work?

[Jaegergirl]

maverick will be 1 next month (2 april) and will be taking the TDI test in late april/early may. although i'm pretty confident maverick will pass the test (the trainers who give it say he shouldn't have a problem passing), my husband doesn't feel maverick is ready for visits because he's so excitable around people.

i know dog personalities and temperments will vary, but i'm curious how old your dogs were when they started TDI visits. thanks!

[mickeymichellie]

My boy just turned one and we are going to start going on visits too, but he is super mellow. Most organizations do not allow dogs under a year.

[Jaegergirl]

i was aware that dogs had to be a year old, but i was curious as to what age dogs actually start doing it. i didn't know if it was realistic to think that maverick could start doing TDI visits since he's so excitable.

[CarolineS]

Maggie was 5 years old when she started only because it wasn't something I'd been interested in before then. Maggie could have very easily started at the age of two, but not before that. Even though she was born laid back, she could be a brat about jumping on people occasionally when she was young and she was still a little too exuberant for therapy work.

Dresden turned 2 in January and she is going for her therapy test this coming Sunday. She was relatively obedient at the age of one but was nowhere near reliable enough to test. She also can get very excited and at the age of one had a hard time listening when something really got her going.

If your dog's excitment takes the form of dragging you around, being pushy or jumping up on people, I'd say to wait a while longer. Most of the people you visit will be pretty old and frail and even an errant paw swiping at them for attention can injure them. Rotties are big dogs and if they should accidentally bump into someone in their excitement, they could easily unbalance a senior. If your dog will not reliably "sit and stay" when visiting people, you might need to wait a bit and put in some more training.

I train new volunteers and their dogs on their first four visits after the dog passes the initial test. There is a vast difference between the test and the reality of visiting, so if you have any doubts, it would be better to wait until your dog is a little older.

[Jaegergirl]

i don't think maverick will have any problem passing the test. but it's the visits i'm thinking about.

he doesn't jump up on anyone, but he wiggles his butt so much that at times, he bumps into you. plus he leans!! you bring up a good point about the people being visited and fact they might be frail and easily injured.

i think i'll go ahead and take the test but hold off on visits for a while. thanks.